Grandfather says nine-year-old grandson saw hammer attack and car crash at Cheshire Oaks
A family day out turned violent in front of a nine-year-old boy after a driver armed himself with a hammer and later crushed a pedestrian
A family day out turned violent in front of a nine-year-old boy after a driver armed himself with a hammer and later crushed a pedestrian between vehicles at Cheshire Oaks, a court heard this week.
The boy’s grandfather said the child should never have had to see it. “No child should have to witness such behaviour,” he told the court after Neil Jones, 48, was accused of unleashing a road-rage frenzy near the busy retail site in Ellesmere Port two days before Christmas 2025.
A visit that went wrong
Jones, of Morningside Road, was already known to police over his driving before the incident at Cheshire Oaks, the Liverpool Crown Court hearing heard. Prosecutors said the confrontation escalated after he was challenged about the standard of his driving.
What happened next was ugly. Jones allegedly went to the boot of his car, took out a claw hammer and returned to where shoppers were standing. Then came the chase, the panic, the arrest. Police armed with tasers eventually caught him.
One short detail cut through the rest. He was said to be smirking.
Earlier death on Bootle road
Jones had also been under investigation over a separate driving incident before the Cheshire Oaks violence. Court details heard that he was behind the wheel of a speeding Ford Focus when he killed Linda Donnelly, 72, in Bootle a year earlier.
Mrs Donnelly, known to family as Lin, was crossing Brewster Street around 7.45pm on December 12, 2024. She had reached the central reservation before continuing across the second section of the dual carriageway when Jones’ car struck her.
Family members were left grieving the loss of the “devoted nan.”
Pressure for tougher checks
The case lands as the UK government pushes ahead with a road safety strategy that could bring random roadside eyesight checks and licence revocations for drivers who fail them. Under the proposals, police could stop motorists at any time to test whether they can read a number plate from a set distance.
Those who do not meet the standard could lose their driving licence through the DVLA and be barred from the roads.
For the grandfather at Cheshire Oaks, though, the policy debate felt remote. The damage was already done. “No child should have to witness such behaviour,” he said.
